Pop CD of the week

Rock, rally and roll

Mixing pop and politics is a dangerous game. Look at the Manic Street Preachers; they set off for Cuba to play gigs and ended up being chauffeured around like pampered pawns in the game of the very man with whom they had intended to show solidarity.

Then there is the question of sincerity. Many people would agree with the sentiments of Radiohead's Hail to the Thief; but manning the barricades and sticking it to the Man is not the same thing as, say, living in a large house near Oxford and having pots of money. Primal Scream's engagement in the case of Satpal Ram is a fine thing, but the man who brought us 'Swastika Eyes' also drummed for the Mary Chain and swung from Sonic Flower Groov e to Screamadelica before going all Rolling Stones on our ass in just a few short years. Did he really mean all of that too?

Of course, once you've espoused your cause, you have to strike a balance between the music and the message; if you're not careful your work will be passé in a flash. Take Billy Bragg: I loved the accent, the rough-and-ready guitar; I loved the songs, too. But the ones that still ring true are about love; and even his own 'Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards' questioned the validity of all that proselytising.

Sweden's the (International) Noise Conspiracy are certainly committed: their last studio album, A New Morning, Changing Weather, boasted titles such as 'Capitalism Stole My Virginity', and the band made themselves quite unpopular in China in 1999 playing at illegal gigs; they also entertained the 25,000 protesters who were in Gothenburg in 2001 when Dubya paid a visit.

Their revolutionary fervour remains undimmed. The cover of Armed Love bears two slogans: 'Revolution is a heartbeat away' and ' O bailan todos, o no bailan nadie !' ('Either everyone dances or no one does'), a rallying cry for 1970s Uruguayan rebels .

The lyrics, too are full of zeal: 'Revolutionary babies on my mind/ Oh darling pick up a cobblestone and run/ And leave the old behind,' they sing on 'The Way I Feel about You'; 'This Side of Heaven' talks of 'first a great storm, then a sunrise'; the last words on the record are 'Liberation's ready to bloom tonight'.

And nor is it all terribly terribly earnest - there's a real sense of glee in 'Communist Moon' when the refrain 'Let's all share our dreams under a communist moon' breaks in again at the end, a cappella and off-kilter; and 'Black Mask' celebrates the balaclava by warbling tongue-in- cheek about 'soft fabric on my skin' before the refrain: 'Put it on put it on, put it on, I need something that can turn me on.'

So much for the message: the spoonful of sugar that helps it go down is the music. Apparently, the group were approached by the producer Rick Rubin rather than the other way around, and he has done a sterling job. No doubt his presence helped coax Billy Preston and Benmont Tench into taking on keyboard duties.

Their work has the effect of drawing the music out of naff rawk territory and into the green pastures of new wave; both spar with the guitars and underpin the action like Steve Nieve in the Attractions. Opener 'A Small Demand', with its sax solo by Jonas Kullhammar, has an air of Boomtown Rats; 'Let's Make History' is a sparse affair driven along by a riveting bass riff; 'This Side of Heaven' delves into rockabilly rhythms, and elsewhere, especially in Dennis Lyxzén's vocals, the band give their countrymen the Hives a run for their melodic money. The whole is full of nice changes of texture - the low, bluesy guitar solo which plays out 'The Way I Feel about You'; the stadium reverb on the guitar in 'All in All'. The title track runs the gamut, from the thumping drumbeat of the opening, raining down righteous fists onto the central riff, to the harmonica and guitar breakdown at the close. At least once a track you think: hmm, nice touch. And 'Black Mask' rocks like Primal Scream's 'Rocks'.

In short, the (International) Noise Conspiracy take the stuff of the nu-garage revolution and twist it to their own ends to at times beguiling effect. Mixing pop and politics, then: will it catch on? No, but this is well worth a listen.

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